Tuesday Open Thread: Sundown Towns

In 1884, it was rare for a town the size of Waverly Ohio (Population 1279) to be all-white. Beginning around 1890 and lasting until at least 1968, towns throughout Ohio and most other states began to emulate the racial policy of places like Wyandotte and Waverly. Most independent sundown towns expelled their black residents, or agreed not to admit any, between 1890 and 1940. Sundown suburbs later, between 1900 and 1968. By the middle of the 20th century, it was no longer rare for towns the size of Waverly to be all-white.

Most towns did not go sundown during slavery, before the Civil War, or during Reconstruction. On the contrary blacks moved everywhere in America between 1865 and 1890. African-Americans reached every county of Montana. That all changed between 1890 and 1930. By 1930, although its white population had increased by 75%, the Upper Peninsula was home to only 331 African-Americans, and 180 of them were inmates of the Marquette State Prison. Eleven Montana counties had no blacks at all. Across the country whites mounted little race riots against African-Americans, expelling entire black communities or intimidating and keeping out would-be newcomers. Violence played a huge role in the expulsion of blacks from sundown communities.

Vienna, a town in southern Illinois had 1,085 residents in 1950, including a black community of long standing dating back to the Civil War. In the 1950 census there were 34 African-Americans and additional black families lived just outside Vienna’s city limits. Then in 1954, 2 black men beat up a white grandmother and allegedly tried to rape her granddaughter. The grandmother died and every white man in town was deputized to find the culprits. The two men were found, in the aftermath, whites sacked the entire black community. They burned down houses and black people literally ran for their lives. As of the 2000 census,Vienna’s population of 1,234 only included 1 African-American.

In 1951, a Chicago bus driver and veteran, Harvey Clark tried to move into an apartment in suburban Cicero. First the police stopped him by force, then with intervention and protection from the NAACP, as he tried to move in whites stood across the street and shouted racial epithets. The next night the mob attacked the building, looted the Clark’s apartment as well as other adjoining flats. The mob threw the Clarks’ furniture and belongings out of the window and were burned. Local police just stood by and watched. The following night a mob of 3,500 gathered and rioted.

To this day, African-Americans who know about sundown towns concoct various rules to predict and avoid them. In Florida, any town of city with “Palm”in its name was thought to be especially likely to keep out African-Americans . In Indiana, it was any jurisdiction with a color in its name, such as Brownsburg, Brownstown, Brown County, Greenwood, Greenfield, and Vermillion County were are all sundown towns. Also towns with “white” in the name were typically sundown towns.

***All this information can be found in the book, Sundown Towns: A Hidden Dimension of American Racism***

Garth Callaghan started slipping notes into his daughter Emma’s lunchbox when she was in kindergarten. She could barely read at the time, so he kept the napkin notes simple with easy words, sometimes using drawings or symbols.

Today, Callaghan’s eighth-grade daughter has come to depend on those brief missives as a daily source of inspiration — and a reminder to never take her dad for granted.

Callaghan, 44, has battled kidney cancer twice over the last several years and currently lives with prostate cancer, a slow-growing disease. Recent blood work shows “no evidence” of kidney cancer these days, but Callaghan said his oncologist has bluntly told him that people with his medical history only have an eight percent change of surviving the next five years.

“This isn’t a story about cancer, because any parent at any time could be hit by a car or have a heart attack,” he said, explaining to TODAY.com about why he continues to write “napkin notes” to his daughter. “This is really about leaving a legacy so that she can understand some of my life philosophies and how much I love her.

Callaghan is now striving to reach a goal of writing 826 napkin notes, one for each school day his daughter has left until her high school graduation. He came up with the goal after reading an article about “because I said I would,” a non-profit group that stresses the importance of keeping promises.

Mitt Romney said Monday that CNN’s Candy Crowley overstepped her bounds by playing fact-checker during a debate between Romney and President Obama in 2012.

Appearing on Hugh Hewitt’s radio show, Romney said Crowley shouldn’t have interjected to confirm President Obama’s claim about the evolution of the administration’s talking points about the terrorist attack in Benghazi, Libya.

“Well, I don’t think it’s the role of the moderator in a debate to insert themselves into the debate and to declare a winner or a loser on a particular point,” Romney said. “And I must admit that, at that stage, I was getting a little upset at Candy, because in a prior setting where I was to have had the last word, she decided that Barack Obama was to get the last word despite the rules that we had.”

Republicans were highly critical of Crowley for her decision to confirm Obama’s claim that he had described the attack in Benghazi as a terrorist attack the day after it occurred. While Obama referred broadly to “acts of terror” during a Rose Garden address, the administration didn’t include terrorism in its talking points in the days afterward.

Romney added: “So, she obviously thought it was her job to play a more active role in the debate than was agreed upon by the two candidates, and I thought her jumping into the interaction I was having with the president was also a mistake on her part and one I would have preferred to carry out between the two of us, because I was prepared to go after him for misrepresenting to the American people that — the nature of the attack.”

Romney declined to say whether he thought the administration was deliberately covering up the true origins of the attack.

So you’re mad that she stepped on your lie, and then didn’t let you have the last word so you could lie some more! Hey Smitt No1currs!!!

http://oldhollywood.net/ woody45

See what I’m saying? This guy got his clocked cleaned over a year ago and the press is acting like what he says matters. If he ain’t running in 2016 he’s doing a great imitation.

conlakappa

Oh, he’s running. Just clearing the field and keeping his name out there…

sagittarius

Fomer Gov. Idiot obviously thinks we live in an age without Internet and instant replay. The replay below clearly shows HE ASKED Candi Crowley to place it on the record what President Obama said about the Rose Garden and that’s when she provided the facts.

I’m not in the mood for stupid today. Former Gov. Idiot is extremely lucky he’s not within ass kicking distance of my foot.

AxelFoley

Why is this moron in the news ERR DAMN DAY?

I’m trying to quit with the bad language, so forgive me, ya’ll, but FUCK this loser muthafucka.

Why is it that the LOSING candidates of the last two Presidential elections stay in the news? Don’t answer, I know the reason why, but this shit is fuckin’ ridiculous.

You lost, Mittens. Exit stage right, bitch.

BoomerGal

Nice rant!

conlakappa

Dude, let it go. If you are so foolish to think that your loss came down to just one moment, you have much deeper things to resolve.

rikyrah

Yesterday at 11:56 AM
Obama’s Plan to End Discrimination Against the Long-term Unemployed
By Jonathan Chait

In his State of the Union address tomorrow night, President Obama will announce that some of the largest firms in the United States have signed a pledge not to discriminate in hiring against the long-term unemployed, reports The Wall Street Journal. This is an interesting and creative response to the most vexing repercussion of the economic crisis: millions of workers who have lost their jobs and cannot find work precisely because they have don’t have it.

The crisis of mass unemployment can be thought of as two problems, one of which is normal, and the other of which is not. The normal problem is simply a standard, albeit very large, recession. The basic policy response is for the government to stimulate demand through low interest rates and fiscal stimulus to create more jobs. Since congressional Republicans (and deficit scolds) are imposing contractionary fiscal policy, Obama has no viable fiscal solution.

There is, however, a second and more unusual aspect to the economic crisis. Even the jobs that are appearing are unavailable to the long-term unemployed. A series of studies have found that employers simply won’t consider candidates who have been out of work for six months or more. One widely circulated experiment found that being out of work for a long time is more harmful to one’s job prospects than even a lack of relevant experience.

Chris Christie’s political future looks to be in serious danger with more Americans believing the embattled New Jersey governor is lying about the bridge closure scandal than telling the truth, according to the latest NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll. Christie’s overall standing has taken a major hit in the survey, with just 22 percent of Americans viewing the Republican New Jersey governor favorably — down from 33 percent in October.

Anything the media says these days is what they HOPE is true. They have become one with the GOP with their projection and black is white-white is black thinking. Whatever the media/GOP says, always believe the opposite.

Pete Seeger first sang at the Lincoln Memorial when Martin Luther King Jr made his historic ‘I Have a Dream’ speech on 28 August 1963 during the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom.

Pete Seeger offered Barack Obama an “old school” method of staying in shape when the president-elect asked the 89-year-old entertainer how he stays fit.

The singer and Obama spoke after Seeger’s performance of “This Land is Your Land”.

Rodriguez-Seeger told the Poughkeepsie, N.Y., Journal that Obama asked Seeger how he stays so fit. According to the grandson, Seeger told Obama that he stays healthy by living out in the woods and chopping and hauling firewood.

The new Obama administration made a definitive statement to have Pete Seeger up front and center at the Inauguration Concert. Pete Seeger withstood the the conservative, RW witch hunters. He was blacklisted and still kept creating and performing the people’s music. He stood with struggles from unionizing campaigns, civil rights, education, voting, and farm workers.

Aquagranny911

Yes he did! He stood with migrant farm workers back when he was on some kind of probation/house arrest when he could have been put in jail any time for speaking out. He was “black listed” but that did not stop him from singing & supporting people’s rights where ever he could. He was a good man.

Miranda

Why is the media busy pumping the “nobody’s gonna watch cuz they hate the President” meme all over twitter? Are they hoping for that now?

TresL

Yes they are hoping for that and were it to happen they’ll be “shocked, SHOCKED, I tells ya,” that no one watched. They’re also angry that the White House is directing people to watch on Whitehouse.gov. They’re so stupid. I hate when they say no one outside of DC cares about this or the American people don’t understand a particular issue. When I used to watch, I’m thinking then why are you on TV talking about these issues to your viewers if you think they don’t care or don’t understand, basically insulting the audience.

conlakappa

Suppress viewership = what they tell people was relevant/important will be the story. They know we are past not believing what we see with our lying eyes. It is like less than 20 degrees over 2/3 of the country. What else will people be doing at that time of night?

“Our” issues must not be that important to him either since he has the luxury of devoting significant segments of his show to fluff like music that releases your inner white/black person.

Ascotty can have a whole stadium full of seats.

Miranda

This mofo JUST got around to a tweet about PBO’s decision to raise the minimum wage of fed contract workers (many of whom are black) – and got the nerve to pretend like a segment on his sorry show about federal judge nominees in Georgia is the be all end all convo about black issues…really ro ro? no….really?

STOP! I have to defend the Ewoks! They were much more effective & some of the more interesting & better characters in the Star Wars epic. At least they were willing to STAND & FIGHT against the Empire & they didn’t eat Han & CO. Just saying….

BoomerGal

Naw, cause he knew he wouldn’t get it!

Tunisia

He is just ignorant. We have voted for every democratic nominee to the tune of 90+%. He needs to stfu, considering prior to PBO his ass was voting for Bush.

AxelFoley

Thank you.

AxelFoley

Roland just got told by me on the Twitters.

Miranda

Sooooo…..President Obama must give the speech to end all speeches because…………….if he doesn’t, its over, he’s doomed…..that’s the end of his presidency..he will be immediately impeached…or something like that?
———————–
Obama in State of Union ‘has one shot here and can’t afford to miss’
By Amie Parnes and Justin Sink – 01/27/14 08:32 PM EST

President Obama’s legacy and the future of his second term hang in the balance in Tuesday’s pivotal State of the Union address.

Obama will step to the podium reeling from a lost year, and with the window for him to exert his influence closing slowly but surely.

“As much as I hate to admit it, this is probably going to be it,” one former senior administration official said of the speech. “He has one shot here, and he can’t afford to miss.”

The address is intended to lay out the president’s priorities ahead of this year’s midterm elections, which will decide the Senate’s balance of power.

“It’s definitely the biggest stage and the best opportunity he’ll have before the midterms,” added another former senior administration official.

The media:
(Dr. Smith voice)
“He can’t get his message out, so… HE’S DOOMED!”
“Why, I’m not going to help him get his message out, you bubble-headed booby!”

TresL

Chuck Todd says PBO is not good at getting his message out one week and then the next week complains PBO uses technology to bypass the media to get his message out. He neglects to mention that the media does not cover the president anyway.

——- –Most independent sundown towns expelled their black residents, or agreed not to admit any, between 1890 and 1940.

– —-THIS! – –To this day, African-Americans who know about sundown towns concoct various rules to predict and avoid them. In Florida, any town of city with “Palm”in its name was thought to be especially likely to keep out African-Americans.— – -WHOA! – — New 2 me.

Senate Republicans unveiled their big Obamacare alternative plan today, and besides taking healthcare away from 10 million Americans, it also raises taxes on the 150 million people who get health insurance from their employer.

In order to force employees to pick cheaper healthcare insurance plans, because the Republican plan doesn’t lower healthcare costs any other way, the proposal would cap the amount employers get to deduct from the cost of an employees health insurance at 65% of the average cost.

This means that everyone who gets their health insurance from their employer would have to pay a 35% tax on their plan. Currently, employers are able to deduct 100% of the cost of the plan, so the tax is zero. If a worker chooses a plan that is more expensive than the average, they would pay an even higher tax rate.

The party of no tax increases has just proposed a healthcare plan that is a defacto tax increase on 150 million Americans. The tax increase comes on top the fact that at least 9.3 million people would lose their health insurance. Even worse, the Republican plan repeals the ACA’s ban on denying coverage due to preexisting conditions. If the Hatch/Burr/Coburn were to become law millions more Americans who have preexisting conditions would either be thrown off of their insurance, or see their rates skyrocket.

The Republican plan isn’t an alternative to the ACA. It’s let’s repeal Obamacare, and go back to the way things used to be. Republicans are going to try to dress this disaster up as liberty and freedom, but the truth is that this is Mitt Romney’s healthcare plan, which was John McCain’s 2008 healthcare plan.

As the creator of “Scandal” and “Grey’s Anatomy,” Shonda Rhimes has put some of the most diverse casts around on TV, but she’s not too thrilled about being honored for it.

At the Directors Guild of America Awardson Saturday (Jan. 25), Rhimes and “Scandal” executive producer Betsy Beers were given the Diversity Award and, in her acceptance speech, Rhimes made clear that she’s beyond ready for the day that such an award needn’t even exist.

“When I heard I was getting a Diversity Award, I was really, truly, profoundly honored. I began to get calls from Variety, The Hollywood Reporter, etc., and I was asked to comment on the award. Asked how good I felt about the award. Asked if it made me feel like I was doing the right thing. Asked if it had been a struggle making diversity happen on my casts and crews.

“While I’m still really and truly profoundly honored to receive this award, but I was also a little p***ed off,” Rhimes says, as reported by Entertainment Weekly. “So was Betsy. So over many, many, many bottles of wine we discussed this.

“We’re a little p***ed off because there still needs to be an award,” she continues. “Like, there’s such a lack of people hiring women and minorities that when someone does it on a regular basis, they are given an award.”

On the phone from Tallahassee, Fla., Katina Smith and Minnie Pearl Thomas made it clear they would do anything for the chance to confront some unforgiving New Jersey weather on Super Bowl Sunday. If they could, they would pay top dollar for the top row of MetLife Stadium to watch Smith’s son and Thomas’ grandson, Demaryius, catch passes from Peyton Manning while being covered by Richard Sherman.

But Smith, Inmate No. 89426-020, and Thomas, Inmate No. 89378-020, have no choice but to settle for their room-temperature seats in front of a community TV inside the low-security federal correctional institution that houses them. They will watch the Denver Broncos play the Seattle Seahawks with dozens of fellow female inmates, many of them wearing T-shirts carrying Demaryius’ number, 88, and some wearing his number and initials on their cheeks.

“It will be a bittersweet situation,” Smith said Monday night. “Sweet that my son made it to this point, and bitter that I’m not there to celebrate this time in his life.”

They are convicted drug traffickers, Smith and her mother Minnie Pearl, and you’d never know it by talking to them and measuring their yes-sir, no-sir approach for close to an hour. Some 15 years after the cops stormed their Georgia home and busted their crack cocaine operation while 11-year-old Demaryius lay terrified in his bed, Smith and Minnie Pearl serve as mentors and role models among the 1,116 women incarcerated in the FCI. According to Edith Barefoot, the facility’s public information officer, Demaryius’ mother and grandmother are so respectful of staff and so committed to their jobs and classes, and to the betterment of younger inmates, that they’ve been granted preferred housing as a reward.

– – — –Awards season is in full swing and among the myriad events honoring the best of film that have — and will — take place are the African-American Film Festival Hollywood Awards.

ABFF is an annual event that recognizes black actors and producers in the film industry. This year, the event will be held on Feb. 19 and will have a few new surprises in store.

Among them is a special five-minute web show hosted by Real Husbands of Hollywood producer Chris Spencer, reports the Huffington Post.
THERE IS MORE – – —
– —–THIS has been OUR YEAR. – —WELL-DESERVED. —

In light of bein’ –Sooo IGNORED —
—- –WE hafta B the MEDIA —4 US – —

edp4bho

Now see (I’m sneaking this in from work), why can’t black folk be satisfied, if not elated, about this event ? We constantly play the “ice is colder” meme without even acknowledging it. Just sayin !

GreenLadyHere

***whispering —edp4bho– –***BIG HUG*****

– – -U! AIN’T! – – – -NEVA! —LIED!!! :>)—-

Good 2 C U edp4bho♥ – – -B BLESSED/SAFE/WARM♥ – – – –

Miranda

Prediction: As long as Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers doesn’t vomit on air, the media will proclaim her rebuttal to the SOTU a roaring and resounding success.

crazycanuck

The media will be the only one caring. I think people generally tune out after the President speaks.

AxelFoley

Yup.

conlakappa

Dunno. The weakness of both Sen. Stay Thirsty and Jindal was displayed pretty quickly during their rebuttals.

— — –Music and records from one of the creators of modern jazz drumming, Max Roach, will be preserved at the Library of Congress.

On Monday, the library announced the acquisition of Roach’s
collection from his body of work over several decades. It includes more than 100,000 items, including 80,000 manuscripts and papers, as well as photographs, music manuscripts and hundreds of sound and video recordings.

Roach worked with other such jazz greats as Charlie Parker, Dizzy
Gillespie and Thelonious Monk to develop the jazz style known as bebop.

Roach’s family is attending a dedication ceremony at the library for the new Max Roach Collection. The materials will be available to
researchers in the library’s Performing Arts Reading Room on Capitol
Hill.

Thank you for your prayers and positive affirmation! Blessings to you!

Alma98

Morning sagi!

sagittarius

Morning, Alma – stay warm!

Alma98

I’m trying too lol.

rikyrah

Good Morning, sag.
Keep warm.
Positive thoughts as always being sent your way.

sagittarius

You, too, Rikyrah! I was out early this morning… good thing, because I have a lot of running around to do today and I needed a jump. Think I know what happened… I drove downtown yesterday, then went to a store near my home. I was in the grocery store an hour. When I drove home, I didn’t let the car run for at least 10 minutes before I went inside. Since the store is about 5 minutes away, the battery didn’t have enough time to recharge in this freezing cold.

After the jump this morning, the car ran continuously for about 40 minutes. It should start right up when I go out later this afternoon.

Hi POU. Vin’s being silly because he’s celebrating the fact that Riddick has hit #1 on the DVD chart and there’s the possibility of another sequel. (Studio didn’t think he could do it and gave him a really low budget to work with, but he proved them wrong.)

True fact: Vin used to be a break dancer back in the day…so I think he can really dance…when he feels like it.

lamh36

Whatever the reason creolechild…that shhhh still was funny to see that early in the morning

conlakappa

Oh, it wasn’t just the opening of his racial closet?

creolechild

Oh, I agree lamh…it was hysterical and on top of that he looked like he was sleep deprived or had done a little TOO much partying in advance of posting.

http://pragmaticobotsunite.blogspot.com/ Sepia

LOL!

Miranda

Eric Boehlert ‏@EricBoehlert 42s
was an NJ prosecutor fired by Christie as a favor to the Gov’s friend? an NJ appeals court hears the case today; http://bit.ly/1aEWRyn
————————–
Appeal of fired Hunterdon County prosecutor to be heard today

Ben Barlyn says he was fired from his position as a Hunterdon County prosecutor because he refused to drop a case against a Chris Christie ally.
The Associated Press January 28, 2014 at 9:04 AM

JERSEY CITY — A New Jersey appeals court is scheduled to hear arguments by a former assistant county prosecutor who claims he was fired for political reasons that may have reached all the way to the governor’s office.

Ben Barlyn sued the state over his firing from the Hunterdon County prosecutor’s office in 2010.

Barlyn claims he was retaliated against because he complained about the dropping of an indictment that touched on a member of Gov. Chris Christie’s transition team, although the person was never charged.

The 43-count indictment was handed up by a grand jury against the county sheriff and two others, but the state attorney general’s office later dropped the case.

Today’s arguments focus on grand jury transcripts in the case that Barlyn is seeking to have released.

See, even if this was an honest dismissal, at this point, it doesn’t matter…all of it’s gonna get lumped together.

crazycanuck

Museum of Modern Art ‏@MuseumModernArt now
Happy birthday Jackson Pollock! The artist was born 102 years ago on this day. [“One: Number 31, 1950.” 1950] pic.twitter.com/yGzyqmfB0F

MsKitty

This is where I have to admit some aspects of modern art confound me. Over the years I’ve seen a number of Pollock’s pieces (most recently at the Stedelijk), and they always go right over my head because they don’t seem to have any rhyme or reason to them. Is he an icon because he was the first to use this type of technique?

crazycanuck

My three year old can do that. That is usually what you hear. I have never had the pleasure to see Pollack’s work live, but I think you get a better understanding of artwork when you see it live. When I saw Andy Warhol work live I appreciated his work more.

To answer your question, yes a major part of it is the technique and the fact that he broke rules associated with abstract art. Many people say there is a lot of mathematics involved, I’m not sure about that, but the way he applies the paint, and colours is what intrigues me. Your eyes moves everywhere. To me it’s almost like the painting itself is moving .

GreenLadyHere

PBOMB♥ — –GLOATIN’ Time – –:>)
– – –The Five Worst Things About The New Republican Proposal To Replace Obamacare – – –
— — – –On Monday, a trio Republican senators unveiled an alternative to Obamacare eerily similar to the one that former presidential candidate Mitt Romney proposed in 2012.
The plan boils down to a rehash of boilerplate conservative ideas for “market-oriented” and “consumer-driven” health care reform — code words that really mean deregulating the insurance industry and forcing consumers to shoulder a larger burden of their health care costs.

Here are the five most troubling aspects about the new proposal from Sens. Tom Coburn (OK), Orrin Hatch (UT), and Richard Burr (NC), dubbed the Patient Choice, Affordability, Responsibility, and Empowerment (CARE) Act:

1. It would kick millions of Americans off of their health plans.

Right off the bat, the Patient CARE Act would repeal Obamacare in its entirety, meaning that the three million Americans who have already enrolled in new plans through the law’s state and federal marketplaces and the millions more deemed newly eligible for Medicaid coverage in states that expanded the program would lose their health coverage.
THERE iS MORE – – – — HAH

Probably hurts. The snow is like walking on ice. I stepped out to the deck and the wood crunched.

Alma98

We have some stuff for his feet but he won’t let us put it on him. Ha also has a quilted coat, he’s so ornery.

goldenstar

Maybe putting some cardboard out in yard near door for poochie to walk on to do business and return immediately.

Alma98

You just gave me an idea for getting the Musher’s cream on his paws. Thanks goldenstar!

BoomerGal

Mine neither, girl! LOL!!

Alma98

LOL… I put the paws cream on some cardboard and layed it on the door mat. So when he walked on it his paws got the cream on them lol. He happily went out to do his business. But now he’s looking at me like what did you do lol.

BoomerGal

Slick! She tricked ya!! lol!!

Alma98

LOL

goldenstar

Good Morning! Another Polar Vortex Day!

Alma98

Good morning goldenstar!
I think we’ve moved on to a double Polar Vortex lol.

rikyrah

Good Morning, Alma.
Had to sit in the car for 35 minutes before I even attempted to drive to the train station; 20 minutes of that without heat.

Alma98

Good morning rikyrah.
I know the feeling. I have taken to parking at the side door and letting the car warm up while I watch from the door lol.

MsKitty

The White House ‏@WhiteHouse 4m
Bo and Sunny are ready for tonight’s State of the Union (via @Pfeiffer44) → http://instagram.com/whitehouse
#InsideSOTU, pic.twitter.com/ax1On1ErZg

goldenstar

Now we’re talking! Take note Sunny is champing at the bit because this is her first time. Bo sits expectantly polite like the well trained canine that he is.

If he was actually running for political office okay. But otherwise WTF?

Alma98

That’s what I was thinking MsKitty.
He’s not running for a damn thing so who cares what folks think. I guess now they’ve taken to polling every black person the media doesn’t like and who won’t kiss their ass.

Miranda

#TheObamaEffect

Alma98

yep

conlakappa

Baracking.

lamh36

PPP Polling outfit does this all the time though don’t they? Aren’t they the ones who asked the questions about Congress and roaches and about the earth being flat and what not ?

MsKitty

Yeah, I remember one poll they did in North Carolina over what kind of barbecue people liked best.

http://pragmaticobotsunite.blogspot.com/ Sepia

SERIOUSLY?????

crazycanuck

apparently

isonprize

As my sweet mama used to say, “He’ll tell you all about it, on his way to the bank!” LOLOL

Miranda

We’re under a winter storm watch here in Atlanta! Expecting up to 2 inches of snow!

*prepares for onslaught of snowballs from northern POUers*

Expecting the office to shut down any minute now, all the schools are closed!

AxelFoley

We ‘sposed to be getting possibly 10 inches (no jokes, ladies).

I might not have to go to work tonight, WOOOOO!

jds09

Ten inches is no joke. Ta da! I’ll be here all week….

conlakappa

And he would have to go to work. Enjoy the veal and don’t forget to recognize the waiters!

lamh36

we are too here in Southeast Louisiana since last night. So far…NOTHING. My company activated their disaster plan last night and I’m on the recovery team. I’m off until the plan ends and then I have to report to work for at least a 12 hour shift.

My damn boss keeps texting me though and I’m this close to telling her to just stop and just tell me when and what time I need to report to work. Shit I literally live 5 mins away…Sheesh.

lamh36

this is me right now…

TyrenM

School is closed today -35 Wind Chill. Daughter has been out more days this month than in.

She will be in school til July 4! I remember when that happened to my Kiddos, 1983 or so when we lived in MA. They thought it was so great to have all those “snow days” until they had to stay in school through June!

MsKitty

I sympathize, I know you how you Southerners are about snow. Years ago I had to go to Little Rock for a business trip, and the first night I was there they had a 1 inch snowfall. The next day the whole town was shut down…schools, offices, government buildings. My clients were like we know you’re laughing at us behind our backs.

Tunisia

We may get up to 4 inches in Knoxville. Schools closed at 11. Unfortunately, our offices will not close. We run on the same schedule as the State Office building in Nashville. If they are open we have to stay open. There are only four people including myself still at work.

goldenstar

Stay safe. People don’t know how to drive in this weather.

Tunisia

That is one of the reasons why I have decided not to leave. I figured I would let everyone that is leaving work early get home and maybe the roads won’t be so bad when I leave at 4:30.

Aquagranny911

Just take it slow & easy, remembering not to stomp on the break but coast gently into a stop. I’m sending you positive energy to get home safely.

Tunisia

Thank you!

Aquagranny911

Absolutely! When I lived in Mississippi, we had an ice & snow storm, not really that much snow compared to where I lived before in MA, CO etc but my boss told us all the night before the storm to: “Stay the “F” home because no body here knows how to drive in that kind of weather.”

He was right because the few people who ventured out were all over the road in accidents.

Stay safe Peeps!

Alma98

My daughter said every store parking lot was full down in SC.
She said you’d think they were getting ready for armageddon.
She’s used to it so she’s like calm down people lol.

2 inches of snow and they closing schools down, plus they are calling it a ‘winter storm” .

Aquagranny911

It is for them! A) Folks don’t know how to drive in it. B) The counties & cities have no snow removal equipment or salt/sand for the roads.

I have lived in the South & it really is a serious “winter storm” for them.

PBomb

At least you are getting two inches of snow, we are having a minor ice storm, and they have closed down the schools and encouraged people to stay home. City Hall has shut down.

Aquagranny911

Ice is worse, imo. Be safe & stay at home if you can.

rikyrah

2 inches…LOL

edp4bho

A “pinch” of snow ? Chicken !!

lamh36

Dollars to donuts Matt Lauer is the News anchor! Ooh, but wait, what if it was Brian Williams??? Or could be one of the ladies, but which of NBC on air ladies have been there as long as Brian W or Matt Lauer?

Hola Peeps! So sad to read that Pete Seegar has taken his next journey. May he find peace & contentment on his way.

Pete & Woody Guthrie are sort of like heroes to my Fam because they sang songs of the people & were not afraid to stand up against injustice. They both spoke up for the workers. I think I said before that I had an Aunt & Uncle who were union organizers, mostly for miners but also farm workers. My Tia loved this song & could sing every word:

Sad thing is that not much has changed for these people or those of West Virginia.

Sis & I attended one of Pete’s concerts to benefit the issues of migrant farm workers, around 1960 I think it was. He sang way past the time scheduled & stopped to greet & speak to people after. He was a nice man & kind to all of us. He was very supportive of what Sis & I were doing, teaching the children to read.

He lived a good & long life. May his familiy find comfort in that.

isonprize

RIP, Pete Seeger. He was righteous…

Aquagranny911

Si, he was!

lamh36

Wow. Oprah will be turning 60 tomorrow!!!

Happy Early Birthday, Lady O!

creolechild

Charts: Unemployment Benefits’ Big Bang for the Buck

President Obama is expected to put income inequality, unemployment, and economic growth front and center in tonight’s State of the Union address. The speech comes amid continuing congressional intransigence over extending emergency unemployment benefits and food stamps, which has left millions of Americans in financial limbo.

Beyond helping Americans in need, economists say that programs like unemployment insurance and food stamps generate high returns on investment, especially during recessions.[….] To see how spending in emergency unemployment benefits compares to other programs and tax cuts, see the chart below:

It’s been almost a year since Jaden Smith first started getting his swirl on with Kylie Jenner, the youngest daughter of Bruce and Kris Kardashian-Jenner. A close friend of the Smith family told The National Enquirer that Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith have been trying to persuade their little anti-schooler to stay away from the K-clan, believing that helicopter mom Kris is using him and his family’s name to stay in the spotlight. The source claims the karate kid has been fly-kicking his parents with defiance, being that he’s all in (puppy) love. The more they try to keep him away, the more he gets tangled up in Kylie’s (and Kris’s) web. So I guess we shouldn’t be surprised if we see Jaden on the next season of Keeping Up with the Kardashians.

Town

Well this is what happens when you have a Free To Be You And Me mentality about child rearing. This is what happens when you are friends with your kids. Opposing Kylie is only going to make Jaden and his hormones want her more.

lamh36

and you right Town

BoomerGal

That’s all part of that “hollyweird” bullshit.

AxelFoley

Bingo.

Aquagranny911

I shouldn’t laugh but your post reminded me of when one of my then teenage daughters screamed at me that “America is a democracy & you can’t tell us what to do without our vote”

I only remember this because all my Kiddos can still quote me and enjoy doing it. My response was:

“There is no democracy in this house! I am a dictator & I am in charge! As long as you live in my house you do what I say!”

Apparently I screamed this very loud with lots of gestures & flames shooting from my eyes but I don’t remember that part. They all got the message!

isonprize

You and my sweet mama must have taken the same class.

I had a girlfriend whose daddy would say
“These are MY bricks. When you get your own, you can do what you want. Until then? My bricks, my rules. ”

LOLOL

itgurl_29

I lost a lot of respect for Will and Jada after viewing how they raise their kids. Jaden and Willow have been seen partying at clubs all over LA since they were barely out of elementary school. Will and Jada are on that Scientology mess, no matter how much they try to deny it. Scientology says that kids should have no rules and basically be allowed to experience any aspect of life they want.

I suspect the reason they’re stepping in and trying to shut this Kardashian thing down is because it’s playing with their money. Kris Jenner is gonna encourage that girl to get pregnant as soon as possible, tying her financially to Jaden and the Smiths for at least 18 years.

Any wealthy black family in L.A. with a son should steer clear of the Kardashians.

lamh36

It’s ridiculous how Will and Jada be trying to dance around that Scientology bullshit.

Crazy as Tom Cruise is, I respect him and that crazy ass Kirstie Alley and John Travolta for not trying to hide they crazy ass Scientology devotion…MUCH.

goldenstar

How about Tom Cruise’s and Travolta’s kids? Are they raised this way?

conlakappa

Travolta’s wife has never left the house but both Nicole and Katie allegedly left because they didn’t want their kids a part of that.

Aquagranny911

This is probably an evil thought but I have always wondered how much Scientology contributed to the death of Travoltas son. The young man had special needs that may not have been being met.

isonprize

He had autism and I’m right there with you, AG.

I met John’s brother, Joey Travolta, who is also an actor. But he also runs a summer video camp for kids with special needs. I immediately had your thought after I met him. I didn’t dare mention it though. That would be have been a bit much…

Town

But Nicole had to leave her kids with Tom behind, though. I don’t believe either one of them speak to her anymore. That’s why she has a new set of kids with Keith Urban.

KATIE was smart (her dad’s a divorce lawyer). She got all her ducks lined up in a row, then bounced out on Tom, catching him by surprise. She didn’t want what happened with Nicole to happen with her.

conlakappa

I thought she gets some time with them, like in summers as long as it’s not as far away as Australia. I thought she had the new set with Urban to dispell any thought that she was the one unable to have kids. Tiny Tom once threatened to sue Mimi Rodgers when she made a passing joke about it. I think their divorce happened soon after, but not before she was all “I misspoke.”

creolechild

2013 Broke Records For New Solar Jobs In America

The U.S. economy added over 23,600 solar energy related jobs last
year, bringing the total number of solar jobs in the nation to 142,698.[….] According to TSF, U.S. solar jobs grew by almost 20 percent in 2013 — far exceeding expectations — or roughly ten times faster than the national employment rate of just 1.9 percent.[….]

Luecke added that the vast majority of these jobs — about 90 percent — were new jobs, not existing jobs with added solar responsibilities.
Two-thirds of the new jobs, in fact, were in the installation sector.[….]

WINTER PLEASE JUST GO AWAY! You are just annoying now. I shall be here in my mind from now on lol.

creolechild

DC’s Indie Coffee Shops Team Up for ‘Disloyalty’ Program

While eBayers duke it out over stunt Starbucks loyalty cards, a half-dozen independent Washington, DC coffee shops are joining forces to encourage rampant disloyalty. “DC Disloyal” implores coffee drinkers to visit all six (independently owned) participating shops as part of a “coffee adventure,” where they receive a stamp with purchase. Once the card is completed, disloyal drinkers will earn a free beverage at the one shop that emerged as their favorite.[….]

Confidence among U.S. consumers unexpectedly climbed to a five-month high in January as optimism about the economy and labor market improved.[….] More Americans than at any time since August 2008 said jobs were currently plentiful and the share of those viewing business conditions as good was the highest in more than six years.[…]

[….] Under the terms of the deal, the Justice Department agreed to suspend criminal charges against HSBC and its US subsidiary for five years if the bank agreed to pay the penalty.[….] In response to the regulator’s findings, the bank, which is Europe’s largest, has taken steps to speed up its overhaul, the sources said.

In the past few months HSBC has hired several new anti-money laundering executives, restructured its compliance department, and is considering the unusual step of cutting off USdollar-clearing access to some foreign affiliates, they said.[….]

You know this series reminds me how the National Review publish an article complaining how some place in Applachia was pretty much all white. There was a tone blaming black people for this fact. I was thinking if they didn’t make black people and other minorites unwelcome maybe it wouldn’t be an all white ghetto.